


Skimmons Week 2016

by JackEPeace



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AU, Canon, Canon Divergence, F/F, Lots of different prompts!, Skimmons Week
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 16:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7582243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackEPeace/pseuds/JackEPeace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of my submissions to Skimmons Week 2016, all in one place for your convenience!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Skimmons in Canon

**Author's Note:**

> Day One -Skimmons in Canon

"What are you doing?"

Daisy is tried. She's tired inside and outside, so much so that the vibrations and shifting of the world and the objects around her is muted, like even the universe thinks that she needs a nap. Because of this, the words come out more accusatory than Daisy had wanted but it's too late to take it back now. She'd have thought that everyone in the world was as tired as she was, that the world and the people in it would be exhausted from all the near death and saving the world. After her shower, she'd expected to climb into bed beside Jemma and maybe have the chance to kiss her before she fell asleep. But Jemma hadn't been in bed.

Jemma is in the lab. Daisy should have seen that coming. It makes her feel a little bit like pitching a temper tantrum because she's tired and she's sore and her insides are still tied up from almost dying and Hive's control and Jemma almost dying because of Radcliffe's weird monsters and losing Lincoln and saving the world. Maybe all of those things have earned her a temper tantrum but she'd rather spend her time getting into bed than figure out if she deserves to pitch a fit.

Jemma turns around quickly, slamming the top of her laptop closed. "Nothing." Of course, literally everything about the scene that Daisy just witnessed makes it pretty obvious that Jemma is lying.

Daisy is tired. Has she mentioned that before? It makes her just look at Jemma, shaking her head. "Okay. Whatever."

Clearly Jemma is doing something she doesn't want Daisy to see and, you know what, whatever. If Jemma wants to be weird and secretive after everything they've been through today -not to mention the past three years- then Jemma can do whatever she wants. Daisy isn't going to fight her over it.

No sooner has Daisy turned to leave, to shuffle her battered body back to bed, then Jemma is leaning forward, grabbing her wrist and practically falling out of her chair. It has wheels; in any other circumstance, Daisy might find it funny how she manages to drag Jemma a few inches before stopping and turning back to look at her.

"It was supposed to be a surprise." Jemma amends quickly, giving Daisy an apologetic smile that definitely goes a long way in softening the annoyance Daisy is currently feeling. "I was just…"

Jemma opens her computer again, taking her hand off Daisy's wrist and reaching for her hand instead, pulling her over. "See?"

Daisy furrows her brow as she looks at the page that Jemma is pointing to. "Seychelles Islands?" Her tongue trips over the pronunciation, undoubtedly butchering the name of the place that is supposed to mean something to her.

But Jemma just smiles, giving her hand a squeeze. "Isn't it beautiful?" She questions, a wistful tone in her voice as she looks back at the pictures on the website. It's all beautiful beaches with sand that looks like powdered sugar and water a color that Daisy is certain exists only in Photoshop.

"It looks nice." Daisy admits, leaning over Jemma's shoulder under the pretense of getting a closer look at the wonders of the Seychelles Island but really she's just happy to be close to Jemma again. It feels like she's been away for ages, like she's lost not only a piece of herself but time with Jemma as well. She's not sure which is more of a loss. "How did you find it?"

Jemma glances over her shoulder to look at Daisy and their faces are close enough to make Daisy completely forget about the Seychelles Islands and remember her earlier plan about getting into bed with Jemma.

"Well…I was thinking…" Jemma purses her lips, her eyes flicking back toward the screen and the perfect, white, sandy beaches. "Don't you think it looks like a nice place to relax?"

Daisy dutifully looks toward the picture as well. "Looks great." She says this truthfully but she'd probably feel that way about the Motel 6 a few blocks away from the base at this point.

Jemma squeezes her hand, lifting it so that she can give Daisy's knuckles a soft kiss. "I just thought about everything you've been through recently, with Hive and your powers and…everything…surely Coulson couldn't begrudge us wanting to take some time off…"

"You want to take a vacation?" Daisy doesn't know why she finds this particular thought so surprising. After all, all she wants is a vacation from pretty much everything in her life except the person clutching tightly to her hand.

Jemma smiles shyly. "I thought it might be nice." She suggests. "We've never gotten the chance to go off and do something together, just the two of us."

Daisy smiles. "Jemma, that's-"

"A great idea," Jemma says proudly, "I know."

"I was going to say romantic." Daisy finishes up. "I'm surprised."

Jemma's mouth drops open. "Surprised! Why?" She swats at Daisy's shoulder playfully. "I can be romantic."

Daisy smiles, kissing Jemma's cheek. "I know." She can't help but relent that particular point because Jemma has done plenty of romantic things throughout the span of their relationship. Though it's mostly been breakfast in bed type romantic versus planning a trip to a perfect paradise romantic.

Daisy is a fan of both.

"A vacation does sound nice." Daisy says and her tired body agrees. "And that place looks perfect. But anything place with you sounds perfect so…"

Jemma rolls her eyes but that doesn't stop a smile from spreading across her face. "Now who's being romantic?" She murmurs as she kisses Daisy softly. "I'll talk to Coulson about it tomorrow."

Daisy nods and not just because the kiss has her in the frame of mind where she'll agree with anything that Jemma says. Especially if it comes with more kisses.

"There's a lot to do there," Jemma turns away, much to Daisy's disappointment, "and we can do something that is going to take your breath away."

Now it's Daisy who can't stop her mouth from dropping open. The color rushes to her cheeks and her mind automatically goes to, well, the direction that her mind always goes whenever Jemma starts kissing her and giving her the bedroom eyes. "Uh…"

"Snorkeling." Jemma clicks on a link on the website, apparently unaware of the thoughts running through Daisy's mind. "Did you know that there are over a thousand species of fish on the Seychelles Islands?" She looks back at Daisy, grinning brightly. "Wouldn't it be amazing to see some of them?"

Daisy nods. "Right, snorkeling. Of course." She smiles at Jemma. "It sounds great, Jem, seriously. Perfect."

And, in all honesty, exactly what she needs right about now. Disappearing to a remote island with Jemma and pretending like the rest of the world doesn't exist sounds like exactly what she wants to do.

Jemma leans forward to kiss her once more, resting her forehead against Daisy's. "It will be perfect if we're together."

Normally that type of comment would make Daisy roll her eyes and gag over the sickly sweetness.

But when Jemma says it, Daisy just wants to agree with her.


	2. Skimmons -AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm sure everyone could have guessed that AU day totally would be my favorite because I seriously don't think there's anything I like more than a Skimmons AU! And this is like a horror movie AU plus a high school AU (kinda) which is like a dream come true! 
> 
> This is based on the movie "The Final Girls" which is totally awesome and my current obsession and I started writing and couldn't stop so...have a Skimmons AU

"Okay that…I don't even know what that is. It makes no sense." Daisy waves a dismissive hand, turning away from the incredibly elaborate diagram that Jemma has scratched out with nothing but a stick and the hard packed earth around them.

Jemma looks up at her, squinting against the overly bright sunlight. "This makes no sense?" She asks dryly, standing up and poking her stick at Daisy. "You would rather believe that we somehow got stuck inside a movie than believe in actual science?"

Daisy looks at the calculations scribbled on the ground. Fitz and Bobbi are studying them with furrowed brows, nodding occasionally like they actually understand what Jemma had just been going on about for the past fifteen minutes. And, who knows, they probably do. Daisy has been trying to get used to that fish-out-of-water feeling since Mack started dating Fitz and thrust her into the world of all these brainiacs. But that doesn't mean that Jemma is right this time.

"Look, trust me, okay?" Daisy turns back to face the group. "We are definitely in _Camp Horror_. I would recognize this," she sweeps her arms out, indicating the trees, the path, the lake sparkling yards behind them, "anywhere. I've seen this movie like a hundred times."

Jemma crosses her arms over her chest. "I think the real question is why on earth would anyone watch this movie even once?" She grumbles, taking pretty much the same attitude and tone she did when they all showed up at the theatre that night to see a special midnight showing of the film. Jemma had clearly been dragged along against her own wishes.

Not that it matters now. Because, even if Daisy can't explain or understand it, they're in the movie. They're actually in the movie.

Daisy steps closer to the dirt path that serves as a road, glancing off to the left. She can see it now, right on time: the lumbering old van kicking up dust as it heads down the road.

"Because," Daisy suddenly feels like it's hard to speak, like her throat is closing up around her heart, which has lodged itself in her windpipe, "my mom is in it."

* * *

 

"Daisy?"

As soon as she hears Jemma's voice, Daisy quickly wipes at the tears on her cheeks, rubbing at her eyes with the heels of her hands. As though that will somehow erase the fact that she's been crying or make it any less obvious.

"Hey." Daisy clears her throat, not turning away from the window where she's been watching the camp counselor characters from _Camp Horror_ go about the actions that they normally do during this part of the movie. At least she doesn't have to suffer through the terribly cheesy dialogue that populates this scene. Unfortunately, Daisy has it all memorized anyway, thanks to repeated viewings of the film.

Not that it even matters anyway. She hasn't really been watching them, she hasn't been paying attention to the scene unfolding. She's been watching only one of the characters in particular. Her mother.

Okay, well, the _character_ isn't her mother but her mother played this character before she got pregnant with Daisy so technically it _is_ her mother…or it's a character that looks just like her mother…talks like her mother…even if she has none of her mother's memories…

It's all very confusing. It makes Daisy's head hurt.

Jemma comes to stand beside her and Daisy keeps dutifully staring at Jiaying…or not Jiaying? The character's name is Lisa but Daisy can't think of her as anyone but Jiaying. Her mother.

Though, now Daisy feels like she's so devoted in her staring to avoid looking at Jemma. And not just because she doesn't want Jemma to notice that she's been crying but because she tries to avoid being alone with Jemma as much as possible. No one gets under her skin quite like Jemma Simmons. Daisy would not be surprised to learn that 'perfection' is literally her middle name because it's definitely not 'modest.'

"Are you okay?" Jemma asks after a beat, looking away from the scene below and toward Daisy. "I'm sure this is all very confusing and a lot to deal with…I mean…" She gestures down toward Jiaying, who is checking things off on a clipboard.

Daisy swallows, clinching her jaw in order to stop the fresh wave of tears that threatens to overtake her. She'll be damned if she's going to start crying in front of Jemma Simmons.

"I'm fine." Of course, Daisy hates the way that her voice sounds stretched too thin, like it's going to break at any minute. "Everything is fine."

Daisy forces herself to turn away from the window, sitting down and putting her back to the wall. She was kinda hoping that such a decisive end to this line of conversation would be a pretty clear signal to Jemma that she wanted to be alone. But Jemma just sits down beside her, mimicking her crossed leg posture.

"I…" Jemma folds her hands in her lap. "I didn't know your mother died."

Daisy scoffs. "Well, you don't really know anything about me." She points out. "Except that I'm stupid and lazy."

Jemma looks slightly horrified. "I never said you were stupid." She seems almost scandalized by this suggestion.

Daisy gives her a look. "But you implied it." She says. "In front of our entire English class."

At least Jemma has the decency to look sorry about this particular conversation, which didn't exactly endear Daisy to Jemma. She'd tried to get along with her, to make friends and enjoy her company since her best friend was dating Jemma's best friend. But Jemma sorta shot that horse in the face when she'd let her mouth speak before her big stupid brain caught up with her.

"I'm sorry." Jemma says, her cheeks a deep red. "I don't think you're stupid. Maybe a little lazy…" But there's a smile on her face, like she wants Daisy to smile as well.

And she does, despite herself. At least it's a welcome change from wanting to burst into tears.

Though, thinking about her mother so close…even if it's not her mother…only makes Daisy feel all tied up in knots all over again.

"How did your mother die?" Jemma asks quietly, shifting her position so that her knee briefly pushes into Daisy's.

Daisy swallows. "A car accident. I was eleven." She looks away, suddenly very interested in the thick dust on the wooden floor. She traces her fingers through it. "I was with her."

Jemma makes a sound that manages to be both shocked and sympathetic at the same time. And she sounds sincere about it. "Oh, Daisy, how awful. I'm sorry."

Daisy looks up at her. She looks like she means it; her face is a picture of genuine sympathy, like the idea of someone else hurting is too much for her to bear. Even if it's someone that she's done nothing but butt heads with since they got to know each other. Daisy feels herself starting to soften toward Jemma, like maybe she isn't so bad. Maybe she can start to see her in a whole new light, if she squints and really gives it her best shot. Someone who is smart and sweet and caring instead of insufferable, obnoxious and arrogant.

"You know, for six years I've been desperate to see her again." Daisy hears herself saying, though she has no idea why she feels the need to suddenly admit such personal things to Jemma. "I've thought about it _every_ day, wishing there was some way…something I could do…I just wanted to see her…to talk to her…to be close to her…and now here she is."

The idea makes Daisy's head swim and she has no idea why she's up here, just watching Jiaying, instead of down there with her. Talking to her, listening to her voice.

Jemma offers her a sympathetic smile, reaching out and covering Daisy's hand with her own. The gesture surprises Daisy far more than it should, though it makes it a little easier for her to see Jemma in that whole-new-light that she was just talking about.

"I'm sure it's been awful for you," Jemma says softly, gently, "but Daisy…you know that's not your mother."

Daisy feels herself tense up, automatically moving away from Jemma's hand. The fact that she knows this, that she understands what Jemma is saying and that she _knows_ that the person outside is not her mother, doesn't matter. Her mind quickly knocks that aside and fills itself with nothing but white, hot, humming anger.

It makes it so much easier to remember that insufferable, obnoxious, arrogant Jemma that she can't stand.

Daisy gets to her feet, her expression shifting to one of anger and frustration. Jemma looks up at her, surprised. "You know," Daisy spits, "you don't always have to explain everything or make sense of it. You don't know everything."

She hurries out of the room and Jemma doesn't do anything to try and stop her.

* * *

 

On her way back outside, Daisy storms past Mack and Fitz. "Hey," Mack looks surprised to see the whirlwind that is his friend, "where's Jemma? She was supposed to go find you so we could-"

"Upstairs." Daisy says dismissively without bothering to look over at her friend. She's angry, mostly because she knows that Jemma is right. But she wants to see Jiaying, to hear her voice, to prove Jemma and her own mind that she has found her mother again after all.

Mack puts a stop to this plan but grabbing the back of her shirt and none-too-gently bringing her to a stop. "Whoa, where are you going?" He looks at her carefully. "And what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Daisy twists out of his grip, swatting his hand away. "Just leave me alone."

While Fitz looks confused by her sudden change in demeanor, Mack is relatively unruffled. He's weathered most of the storms of adolescence with her, not to mention repeated, forced viewings of _Camp Horror_. "Look, I get that you're upset and probably overwhelmed right now, but we've got bigger things to worry about right now."

Daisy crosses her arms and decides to contribute nothing to this conversation. She figures that she's earned the right to be a little bit pouty. Her dead mother is standing right outside and apparently they have bigger things to focus on.

"We need to figure out a way to get out of here." Mack continues, ignoring Daisy's posture and scowl. "We have to get out of the movie and back to the real world."

Daisy huffs out a breath. "What's the hurry?"

"Well, for one, the part about us being stuck in a movie." Mack repeats, giving her a look. "The fact that we belong in the real world. But also, you know, the fact that this movie is about a killer who murders everyone here."

Right, of course. Daisy kinda, sorta, maybe forgot that part of it. She's been a little preoccupied after all.

But now that Mack mentions it, it's a little hard to overlook the fact that this is a slasher movie and every character in it but one is destined for death. The final girl, the one who always saves the day by killing the killer, though not before everyone she knows and loves is dead, for the most part. There's always some dinky love interest that makes it to the end with her, seriously wounded and unable to do anything but look on while the final girl rises to the challenge, embraces a strength she didn't know she had, and kills the bad guy. Every horror movie's got one, even _Camp Horror_.

Unfortunately, the Final Girl in this particular movie is not Jiaying.

How could she forget? Before her mother died, they used to watch the movie together in their PJs with a bowl of popcorn between them, laughing at the ridiculous lines and making fun of Jiaying's equally ridiculous death scene. After Jiaying died, Daisy always found herself stopping the movie right before that part, pretending like the rest of it didn't exist. She couldn't handle the idea of fiction emulating fact in that particular way.

But now…now they're actually in the movie and obviously there's no pause button. Daisy is pretty sure that watching some masked killer murder her mother right in front of her is going to be worse than watching it on VHS.

Even though it's not really Jiaying…but still…it counts.

"We need to figure a way out of here," Mack says again and Fitz is quick to nod his agreement. "I do not want to be around when he shows up with his axe and starts hacking away. You know how horror movies feel about minorities."

Daisy rolls her eyes at him but doesn't get to respond before the sound of footsteps causes all of them to turn back toward the staircase. Jemma comes into view, clearly surprised to see Daisy standing there. "Oh." Jemma looks a little bit like she might consider hurrying back upstairs.

Fitz doesn't give her the chance. "There you are." He seems exasperated by her absence, hurrying over and pulling her into their little pow-wow. "We need to find Bobbi and Hunter and figure out a way out of here."

"I couldn't agree more." Jemma is pointedly refusing to look in Daisy's direction.

Not that Daisy notices. She's too busy pointedly refusing to look at Jemma.

* * *

 

They meet in the main lodge, which is decorated in hodgepodge of faux-leather furniture and mounted animal heads, which Daisy assumes is supposed to look rustic but really just makes her wonder what production design was thinking when they put this set together. It's difficult for her to wrap her head around the fact that none of this is real, not really. It certainly feels real: the scratchy couch underneath her, the smell of pine and lake water drifting in through the open door, the breeze tickling the back of her neck. She never once imagined that such a thing was possible, that some alternative universe existed out there where _Camp Horror_ was the real deal.

So far, they haven't really come up with a lot of ideas about how to put themselves back into the land of 2016 and the real world. Though, Daisy kinda hopes that if -when- they get out of here, they don't end up back in the burning down theatre that they escaped from in the first place. That would kinda suck.

"Okay, so…" Hunter scrubs a hand across his face, glancing up at a deer's head on the wall. "What if we just…wait for the movie to end? Like everything is going to go on according to plan, right? We could just stand back, watch it all and when the credits roll…bam. It's over and we're out of here."

Bobbi frowns. "I'm not sure it works that way." She mumbles, picking at a fraying thread on a couch cushion. "Not to mention the murderer on the loose…though I wonder if we're truly in danger. We aren't a part of the movie, after all."

"But we already know we can affect the movie." Jemma chimes in and Daisy wouldn't be surprised if she busted out another stick and started making another complicated diagram. "We can talk to the characters and they can see us. Interacting with us changes the momentum of the scene."

"It might work though, to just stand back and be a part of the background." Fitz suggests hopefully. "If we don't do anything maybe…he'll just kill the people he's scripted to kill and be done with it."

Daisy rolls her eyes. "We can't just stand around and do nothing while they get killed." She snaps. "We could change it. We can save them."

By them, of course, she just means Jiaying. Or, rather, Jiaying's character. No reason they can't re-write the script, right?

Jemma gives her a look and Daisy can practically see her biting down the need to remind Daisy that this is just a movie and the person out there is not her mother. She can't resist the urge to mimic Jemma's look, quirking her eyebrows. "Does it physically pain you not to say everything that comes to your mind?" She questions innocently. "Does it hurt when you feel like you can't tell someone they're wrong?"

Jemma ignores her but her glower speaks volumes.

"Okay, guys, let's just-" Mack's attempts at peace-making are interrupted when the door to the meeting hall swings open the rest of the way.

Daisy turns back to look over her shoulder and inhales sharply. It's just like seeing a ghost only…way more complicated.

Jiaying, or rather her character, smiles at them. "What are you all doing in here?" She holds up her clipboard. "I could really use some help setting up the volleyball courts and the ropes course."

Daisy quickly jumps to her feet. "I'll do it. I'll help."

Jiaying smiles and Daisy is suddenly finding it really hard to swallow around the lump in her throat. "Great. Follow me."

"Daisy," Mack calls after her, "we really need a plan-"

Once upon a time, Daisy figures she would have ignored her mother in favor of her friends. Now, she's more than happy to ignore her friends in favor of her mother.

* * *

 

Daisy is pretty sure that Jiaying is going to think that she's totally out of her mind, given the way that she's been successfully impersonating a barnacle since leaving her friends behind in the main lodge. But she can't seem to bring herself to be more than a few inches away from Jiaying at all times, which does make it a little difficult to get anything done. Not that Daisy doesn't give it her all, mostly so that she's continually rewarded with a smile and a pleased comment from Jiaying.

"Are you all right?" Jiaying finally asks once they've finished stringing up the volleyball nets. "You seem…sad."

Daisy clears her throat, looking away and giving more attention than necessary to securing the already secure knots. "Oh, yeah, everything is fine."

Jiaying doesn't seem convinced. "Is this your first time away from home?" She questions sympathetically and the tone of her voice just reminds Daisy of being little and afraid of the monsters that she thought lived under her bed. "I'm sure you miss your parents."

"My mother…died." Daisy hears her voice wobbling and she's equal parts embarrassed and horrified by the words coming out of her mouth. She looks over at Jiaying but the other woman is just watching her with that sweet look of understanding that Daisy remembers so well. "You…kinda remind me of her."

Jiaying makes a sympathetic noise, stepping closer to Daisy. She puts her hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. It takes everything in Daisy not to fall into her arms and just cling to her.

"I'm sure she was great." Jiaying moves away all too quickly, another reminder that this person isn't actually her mother.

Daisy watches as Jiaying picks up her clipboard, humming an old camp song to herself as she starts back toward the main lodge. It can't be too hard to change the movie, right? It seems totally doable.

Daisy separates herself from Jiaying in order to go check on the status of their efforts to escape the movie. She doesn't want to use the word 'sabotage' but it's not like they can leave until she manages to change the ending and save Jiaying's character Lisa.

* * *

 

Predictably, they're all still in the main hall, bickering over the best approach to accomplish an impossible feat. Jemma looks a little bit like she's given up and is sitting on the couch with her head buried in her hands. Or maybe she's just trying to keep her giant brain from exploding.

As Daisy walks in, Hunter gives a whoop of victory, causing all eyes to turn toward him desperately. "I've got it!" He clasps his hands together, looking at them hopefully. "The girl at the end of the movie. Raina. She's the one who kills the killer, right?" He looks over at Daisy for confirmation.

Daisy nods, uncertain as to what Hunter is getting at. Not that Hunter seems deterred by the fact that no one else is on his page. "The Final Girl never dies. As long as we hang around her and just wait for her to kill the slasher, then we're good! We'll be safe and we can get out of the movie."

Bobbi rolls her eyes. "I still don't think we're actually in danger." She grumbles stubbornly. "We're _real people_. We can't be killed by a celluloid slasher."

* * *

 

Turns out, Bobbi is wrong.

It doesn't take them long to figure this out. It happens right around the time the slasher -a hulking guy who is an escapee from a secretive government program attempting to make super soldiers by infusing them with metal and the most advanced cyber technology available in the mid-eighties, when the movie was released- shows up and starts taking out the characters who are actually scripted to meet death at the end of his axe. Daisy always found his backstory pretty boring; an ex-soldier who apparently decided to use his shitty life as an excuse to go around killing camp counselors. She'd always thought the writers should have put a little more effort into it.

Not that it really matters because Daisy isn't exactly going to stand around and start debating motive when there's bloodshed happening. The first to go is Kara, who fulfills the trope of the ditzy, easy girl the audience always knows is going to be quick to die.

But then the killer turns on them, immediately putting an end to Bobbi's theory that they're not in danger by burying his axe in Hunter's chest.

Daisy gasps, stumbling backward and nearly tripping herself in her panicked efforts to get the hell away from this guy. Admittedly, all thoughts of saving Jiaying quickly fly out of her mind; all Daisy really cares about in this moment is figuring out how to get the hell out of this movie.

Daisy turns, ready to hurry back to the main lodge and lock herself in a room until someone figures out how to get them out of this. But then she sees Jemma, staring at the mangled corpse of Hunter with eyes as wide as saucers and all the color draining from her face. Her hand is pressed to her mouth and it doesn't escape Daisy's notice that she's shaking like a leaf. Though, that probably has less to do with the fact that Hunter is dead and more to do with the fact that the killer is currently heading in her direction.

With only a few seconds' hesitation, Daisy changes course, making a detour to grab Jemma roughly by the arm, jerking her backward. "Come on! Hurry up!"

Thankfully Jemma runs so Daisy doesn't really regret stopping to save her life. They make it to the main hall in record time and Daisy is pretty sure that her gym teachers would never believe it. Of course, she definitely has more motivation for running now then she ever had in gym class.

As soon as Daisy and Jemma come running inside, Mack slams and locks the door behind them. Daisy feels relief flood her body when she notices Jiaying sitting on the couch beside two of the other movie characters. She hurries over. "You're all right!"

Jiaying looks perplexed by her concern but reaches for her hand anyway, holding onto her tightly.

"Okay, okay." Fitz starts pacing the length of the main room, wringing his hands as he walks. "We need a plan. We need Raina, the Final Girl. Right? Where is she?"

Mike, another character from the movie, makes a face. "I'm pretty sure I saw Garrett going after her…"

They rush over to the window, pushing the curtains aside to look out. Sure enough, it looks like Kara isn't the only one who has met the business end of the axe in the hands of the serial slasher.

"This can't be happening." Fitz steps away from the window, stumbling over to one of the arm chairs. "I thought she was supposed to kill him."

"We must be changing the story." Bobbi whispers, seeming unable to pull her focus away from the carnage outside. "We're changing the movie."

Daisy glances over at Mack, standing beside her; he's been her best friend since the year her mother died, the only kid who seemed to think that she wasn't somehow contagious or a freak. She looks over at Fitz and Bobbi, people that she's starting to learn how to call her friends. There's Jemma, who isn't exactly her friend but it somehow seems wrong all of the sudden to consider her anything less. And then she looks to Jiaying, who is still sitting on the couch, panic in her eyes.

Daisy swallows, turning away from the window and tightening her hands into fists. "Okay, then." She's impressed, at least, that her voice isn't shaking. "Let's change the movie."

* * *

 

"This is going to work." Jemma says decisively, standing back to survey the work that she and Daisy have done, arranging a set of booby traps across the upper balcony in the main hall. "This is definitely going to work."

Daisy keeps wrapping cloth around the tips of the plastic, blunted arrows that fictional campers would have used during the fictional opening days of camp. The air is thick with the acrid smell of lighter fluid, purloined from the kitchen and sitting ready for them to dip the cloth tips of the arrows into. "If you say so." But there's a hint of a smile in her voice, one that she hopes Jemma can pick up on.

After all, she's feeling pretty optimistic about their chances. Jiaying and Mike are downstairs stringing fishing line across the floor while Mack and Fitz work on emptying the kitchen of its potential weapons. Bobbi and another fictional counselor, Lincoln, are setting up in one of the bedrooms overlooking the field where they last saw Garrett. They've already changed things. They're already fighting back. And Jiaying has already lived longer than she does in the movie.

Or whatever.

Maybe they can do this. Maybe this is going to work.

"It stands to reason that we can change the outcome of the movie, seeing as we've already changed elements so far." Jemma says, as though Daisy's distracted comment was somehow encouragement to continue working out the details in her mind. "Honestly, none of this makes sense. This should not be happening. But assuming that it _is_ possible, that we somehow managed to find our way in an alternative universe then we should be able to have influence on that universe, just like it's having influence on us and-"

"Okay, I get it." Daisy interrupts, rolling her eyes. "Come help me with this."

Surprisingly, Jemma doesn't offer further comment. Instead, she comes to sit beside Daisy, grabbing the strips of cloth and winding them around the arrows.

"Thank you. For earlier." Jemma says once they've worked in silence for several minutes. "I don't know what came over me. It was like I…I was frozen. I couldn't think…"

Daisy scoffs, grinning at Jemma. "That must have been quite a change for you."

Jemma opens her mouth to respond and then seems to decide against it, pursing her lips and going back to tying the cloth. Daisy almost feels bad for her comment, even if it is pretty truthful.

"I…" Jemma shifts, laying the arrow across her lap. "I'm sorry. I know I can be infuriating sometimes. I've…I've always had this…obsession with knowing the answers to everything. I've always wanted to know how everything works and why things happen the way that they do. When things don't fit into those patterns, when things can't be explained by science…it's hard for me to wrap my head around them. Well, everything _can_ be explained by science and when it can't, I just feel like I'm not trying hard enough."

Daisy studies her. "Isn't that kind of sad?" She shrugs. "Don't you feel like you're missing out on the…mysteries of life or whatever?"

"But there still are mysteries in the scientific world, things that we previously didn't understand and now we do thanks to the work and the minds of the people before us." Jemma shrugs. "I guess I always feel like people are missing out if they don't understand science and how it all works and…I just want to help them realize how marvelous everything is."

Daisy quirks an eyebrow. "You know, that's kinda sweet." She bumps Jemma's shoulder with her. "I didn't realize you had it in you."

Jemma gives her a look but there's no harshness to it. The flintiness that usually flashes in her eyes when she looks at Daisy seems to have disappeared. "I've always been envious of you, though." She admits, albeit reluctantly. "You've always been able to accept things, even the seemingly unexplainable things like…what's happening right now. It seems a lot less exhausting."

"It's not." Daisy assures her. "Trust me, I've spent a lot of time trying to make sense of things."

Daisy is pretty sure that Jemma knows exactly what she's talking about.

"Don't tell anyone but," Daisy leans in to whisper conspiratorially to Jemma, "I've always been jealous of you too."

Jemma laughs but there's a grateful expression on her face, like everything is somehow right and logical even for just a few seconds. Looking at Jemma now, when she's so open and vulnerable and soft, Daisy feels something come loose in her chest, like a knot she's been worrying at for days without really even knowing why.

Maybe Jemma isn't quite as terrible as she's let herself believe.

* * *

 

Despite all their best efforts and their preparation, their plan fails horribly. As embarrassing as it might be upon further study, a handful of teenagers from the real world are no match for a fictionalized serial killer with a giant axe and a grudge against everything adolescent.

Before Daisy can even truly process what has happened, everyone else is dead. Gone. She can only hope -in some desperate part of her mind that she's shutting away for the time being because she really can't afford to go down that path right now- that her friends aren't really dead and have woken up somewhere else, an alternative universe more pleasant than this one or even back where they all belong.

Back where they might never make their way back to, at this rate. Though, Daisy figures if she still has someone from her world, her odds are pretty good with Jemma Simmons still beside her. Somehow, they've managed to escape the blade of the axe, even though the rest of their friends haven't been quite so lucky.

Lucky isn't really the word that she would use to describe herself right now but Daisy does have to admit that her odds could have been worse. She's still alive. She still has Jemma. And she still has Jiaying. Despite everything, she's managed to keep changing the movie for her at least.

Jiaying is currently helping Daisy carry Jemma into one of the empty cabins and they lay her across one of the dusty mattresses. Daisy kneels down beside the bed, taking stock of the bloody gash across Jemma's side. Her shirt is already stained dark red and sticky and judging by the lack of color in Jemma's cheeks and the sweat beading across her forehead, it feels worse than it looks.

"It's fine." Daisy assures her, offering Jemma a wane smile that she probably sees right through. "Just a flesh wound."

Jemma laughs and immediately her face twists in pain. "Don't do that." She presses her hand to her side. "Hurts too much."

Daisy looks up. "Mom, give me your bandana."

If not for the odd way that Jiaying is looking at her, Daisy probably wouldn't have even noticed her slipup. But she immediately cringes, already fumbling with an excuse for her words. Jiaying just hands over the bandana, offering no comment of her own.

Daisy quickly looks away, focusing on attempting to doctor Jemma's wound, with several pointers from Jemma herself.

Jiaying watches, her expression unreadable. "You stay and help her," she says decisively, "I'll go distract him."

Before she can take more than a few steps toward the door, Daisy is hurrying after her, grabbing onto Jiaying and pulling her back. "No! You can't! He'll kill you."

Jiaying turns to face her, offering Daisy the bravest smile she can muster under the circumstances. "Maybe you two can get away." She says. "She needs a doctor. It'll be fine, Daisy, I promise."

Daisy's eyes immediately fill with tears, Jiaying's face swimming in her vision. It seems unfair; she wants to be able to see her as clearly as she can for as long as possible. "No." She says firmly, clutching Jiaying's hands tightly, like she can somehow keep her from going. "I won't let you. I can't lose you again."

"Daisy," Jiaying says softly and Daisy can't stop the tears from falling onto her cheeks. She'd forgotten all the little, lilting tones of her mother's voice. She'd forgotten the sound of her name when Jiaying said it. "I'm not your mother." Her tone is gentle but it only makes Daisy want to cry harder. "You have to let me go. It'll buy you and Jemma some time."

They might have changed the movie but maybe some things are inevitable after all. Maybe this is how her life has always been destined to be: losing and longing for her mother, no matter what universe they're in.

"I love you." Daisy swallows, looking up at Jiaying. "I didn't tell her…that day…I…."

Jiaying takes Daisy's face in her hands, wiping her tears away with her thumbs. Even though Daisy knows this is not her mother, even though this character understands that she is not Daisy's mother, she still says, "I love you, too" and it sounds exactly like what Daisy has been wanting to hear for the past six years of her life.

Jiaying leaves then, not sparing them a backward glance. Daisy watches only for a few moments -watching as Jiaying moves down the path and toward the darkness of the forest, where the killer undoubtedly is waiting for her- before she shuts the door, separating them once more. Even though she knows it's not going to do much good, Daisy locks the flimsy latch anyway, mostly because it makes her feel better.

"Daisy," Jemma's voice is soft, strained, "it's going to be okay. I'm sorry."

When Daisy turns back to look at her, her heart jumps into her throat. Jemma looks even worse than she did moments before; the mattress beneath her is stained red and she's slumped back against the headboard.

"Jemma, no." Daisy reaches for her hand quickly, holding it tightly. Though that didn't do much to help her keep Jiaying. "You're going to be fine, okay? The movie is almost over."

Jemma only shakes her head, twining her fingers together, holding tight enough to turn her knuckles white. Daisy doesn't even feel the discomfort. "I'm sorry," Jemma says again, "about your mother. And about everything I said to you before…I was insufferable and…it seems like such a waste of time now."

"You need to stop talking like this, okay?" Daisy says forcefully and now it's Jemma's face that's growing all blurry and how is this fair? How is it triumphant to live and slay the killer in the end if you've lost everyone else along the way? "I can't lose you too. I can't be alone."

Jemma squeezes her hand again. "Yes you can. Now you can defeat him. This way you'll be the Final Girl."

Understanding suddenly flickers through Daisy's mind and she lunges forward, pressing her lips against Jemma's. It can hardly be considered a real kiss. It's more teeth than anything, their mouths knocking together because of the surprise and extreme lack of grace in the movements. Jemma's lips taste sharp and irony and not at all like Daisy once imagined they might, once upon a time before she figured out it was easier to despise Jemma than long for something she couldn't have. But it doesn't matter. It's a kiss.

When Daisy pulls away, Jemma looks at her in surprise but she's still holding tightly to Daisy, like she might reel her back in for another try. "What…?"

"There. You're going to be fine, now." Daisy assures her, surprised by the amount of conviction in her tone, given the fact that she really has no idea what she's talking about. "The Final Girl gets a love interest, right? They usually make it to the end of the movie. You can be mine."

Rather than respond, rather than point out the stupidity of this plan and how it'll never work and point out all the flaws in Daisy's thinking, Jemma just leans forward, grimacing at the effort, and kisses her again.

It's a little better this time, but Daisy still thinks they could do better, that they could master a real kiss. She's looking forward to trying it, once they get out of this.

Daisy forces herself to pull away, to stand and take a step back from Jemma. She doesn't want to leave her, not when she could be bleeding to death on a mattress. But Daisy wants to imagine that she's looking better already, that the color in her cheeks isn't purely from the blush.

But she has to leave. Because, you know, she's got a serial killer to deal with.

Great.

"Okay." Daisy nods, offering Jemma a smile she definitely doesn't feel. "Just…hang on. I'll be right back."

Jemma tries to reach for her but Daisy is too far away and the effort is too much. "Daisy, don't. This is stupid. It doesn't make any sense. You don't have to-"

"Yes, I do." Daisy assures her. "I'm the Final Girl, right?"

"This isn't a movie!" Jemma protests, trying to sit up, trying to get up, but the wound in her side won't let her. "It doesn't make sense…"

This time, the smile is easier for Daisy to manage. "I thought we talked about this," she teases, "it doesn't always have to make sense."

Jemma is still protesting, still alternating between demanding and begging that Daisy not go, even as Daisy opens the door to the cabin and steps outside. Predictably, Garrett is waiting at the foot of the path, standing like a silent sentry with his axe in hand.

Yeah, this really doesn't make sense. But Daisy isn't going to back down now.

They meet each other head-on, like this was always supposed to be the way that things ended. Like this was the movie all along. Like this is all Daisy has ever been meant to do. She grabs for the axe right as his hand closes around her throat and suddenly Daisy doesn't feel like this is destiny at all. She just feels like this is a really terrible idea.

But she has the axe. She wrenches it free, just as he tightens his grip on her, squeezing. She lifts. He squeezes. She swings.

And everything goes black.

* * *

 

When Daisy opens her eyes, her entire body hurts. Even her toes. It all hurts. It's pretty unfortunate.

But still, she forces her eyes to remain open, to take in her surroundings. She expects to find herself looking up at the trees and lightening sky at the camp but it's nothing but bright, sterile white light.

Awesome. She'd always thought for sure that she was going to Hell. Apparently she wasn't quite as terrible as the foster parents she'd had after the death of her mother led her to believe.

But if she is dead…why the hell does it hurt so much? And why does it smell like antiseptic? And why is she suddenly getting flashbacks of waking up in the hospital after the car accident that killed her mother? Apparently all hospitals have the same really uncomfortable and thin blankets.

Daisy groans, squinting against the light and turning her head. There's a bedside table, with a plastic pitcher and an empty cup sitting on it. There's a machine, which she is apparently hooked up to. And there's a chair, with Mack slumped in it, glaring daggers at his phone screen.

"Mack." Daisy's voice comes out scratchy and she's pretty sure she doesn't even make more than a hissing sound but it's enough to catch Mack's attention and he jumps out of his chair, coming up to her bedside. "You're alive."

Mack smiles, relief on his face. "Yeah. I'm here." He pats her hand gently. "And so are you."

Daisy brow furrows and she tries to glance around but it's too much effort. "What happened? What…"

"Remember, the theatre?" Mack questions gently, brushing her hair away from her forehead. "The fire?"

"That's not…all I remember." Daisy trails off before she can say anything more.

And really…what is there to say? How is she supposed to even begin? Everything had felt so real: the movie, fighting for her life…her mother. "Was that…did I dream all of that?"

Mack smiles. "Look, I really can't explain it…" He shrugs. "But if you did, then I had the exact same dream."

Daisy looks at him with wide eyes. "My mother…"

"I know." Mack pats her hand again. "I know."

Abruptly, Daisy tries to move into a sitting position but it's a lot harder than it seems. She whips her head around, looking at the empty room around her. "Where's Jemma? Is she okay?"

Mack tries to suppress a smile. "Clearly I woke up too early…"

It takes twenty frustratingly long minutes for the doctor to give his consent for Daisy to be wheeled down the hall into the room where Jemma is currently hooked up to her own set of machines. Daisy really doesn't listen to much the doctor has to say; he's talking about smoke inhalation and injuries sustained in trying to escape the fire but Daisy knows exactly why her throat feels so scratchy and painful.

Daisy sags in relief when Mack wheels her into another hospital room and she sees Jemma sitting up in bed. Bobbi and Fitz are standing beside her bed, talking to her softly, while Hunter tries to figure out how to work the television, no doubt for his own entertainment. Everyone is here. Everyone is alive. It seems almost too good to be true.

Daisy doesn't exactly believe that she was just dreaming. It seems impossible that they were _all_ just dreaming. But she's never been happier to be back in reality.

Jemma turns to look at her and the moment their eyes meet, Daisy is forcing herself out of the wheel chair, ignoring the protests of her muscles. Jemma reaches for her, wrapping her arms around Daisy. Fitz makes a surprised sound but Daisy doesn't have time to acknowledge that right now. She has more important things to do.

Like kissing Jemma. She feels just as real beneath her hands as she did back in the camp cabin but this is so much better.

"So I'm guessing that wasn't all just some very elaborate dream?" Jemma questions, twisting a lock of Daisy's hair around her finger. "Not that that explains-"

"Hey, I thought we weren't going to try and explain everything anymore?" Daisy gives her a look. "Or can we at least wait twenty-four hours?"

Bobbi looks at them with a smirk. "I definitely missed something." She glances over at Mack, who just shrugs. "I'm glad that while we were being murdered by some axe-wielding psychopath that you guys were having fun."

"Fun…not exactly the word I would use…" Jemma looks back at Daisy, resting her hand on her forearm. "Are you okay? With…you know…?"

Daisy does know exactly what Jemma is talking about. Her mother. Losing her again. But still, she can hear Jiaying's voice in her head, clear as day, the assurance in her tone as she'd told Daisy that she loved her. It suddenly feels like enough.

"Yeah," Daisy nods, shrugging, "yeah. I'll be okay."

And they all will, now that they're back where they belong. Daisy can't even begin to explain how they ended up in _Camp Horror_ and how…any of it happened. And, honestly, it's starting to make her head hurt to even think about.

"Guys, look!" Hunter says cheerfully, pointing toward the television set. Daisy recognizes the opening titles of the movie playing on the screen very, very well. " _Camp Horror_. What're the odds?"

Before, Daisy wouldn't have missed the opportunity to see her mother, even if it was just on screen in some terrible eighties movie. Now, no one complains when Bobbi snatches the remote from him and turns the TV off. After all, Daisy thinks they've had enough of _Camp Horror_ to last them for the next year. At least.


End file.
